NOCTILUCA June 2016

SPORTS

Appleton, Wisconsin June 2016 Vol. XXI Issue III

Page 12

a NBA team while Flood-

strand hopes to become a

high school social worker.

For incoming college fresh-

men choosing to participate

college athletics, they have

strong words of encourage-

ment.

Nelson believes, “It is sig-

cantly more dif

cult to

balance athletics and aca-

demics than in high school,

but if you really love the sport

and are dedicated to your

academics, you will have

an experience with both.”

By Fatima Ali and

Brennan Arnold

Boys’ Tennis focuses on mental toughness for matches

In regards to their athletic

standpoints, Nelson hopes

to build himself up to be-

come a General Manger for

As the season winds

down, the Appleton North

Boy’s Varsity tennis team

remains hopeful that they

will end the season on a

high note. The team

ished strong with 5th place

in conference with a record

of 4-4, according to the

FVA Sports website.

Although there have been

many rough patches during

the season, include a 0-2

losing record at the begin-

ning of the season, as well

as several minor injuries

during practice as a result

of misjudgments when

feeding and returning balls,

the boys tennis team is de-

termined to continue the

ght, as they embark on

sub-sectionals.

“The most dif

cult part

of the season is the gaunt-

let we play in our confer-

ence. The FVA is so strong

in tennis, that there is never

a match you can take off.

On your worst day, any-

body can beat you, and on

your best day, you can beat

anybody,” Coach Scott Burt

said.

“In order to perform our

very best on match day,

we worked on developing

mental toughness Tennis

is such a mental game and

we worked on how we react

when adversity in a match

strikes. There is such lim-

ited time to get yourself out

of a bad mind-set, so you

have to have a mental edge

over your opponent.

Before a match I always

say “Play smart, play hard”.

There is no time limit in ten-

nis, so even if you are down

6-0, 5-0, you are always in a

position to climb back into

the match. You play hard

until the

nal point, and the

best way to get back into a

match is to play smart ten-

nis and not let your emo-

tions get the best of you.

I was especially proud of

our guys recovering after a

tough loss to Kimberly. We

lost 4, three set matches to

Kimberly, where I felt like

we mentally crumbled. We

had a very to the point con-

versation after that match

about mental toughness.

We responded by playing

very well against Oshkosh

North where our #1 doubles

team of Mac Bagwell and

Brad Pennings were able to

pull off a 3 set win against a

state caliber team to give us

a 4-3 team victory.”

Even when the boys

have a spectacular win dur-

ing a match, Burt always

mentions, “That was good,

not great. But hey, a win’s

a win. We’ll take one wher-

ever we can get one.” Burt

explains that this means

whether the win was a close

match or blowout, there are

always things to improve

on.

It is important that even

in wins, the players look at

themselves to see what they

can still do better. They

like to talk about the good

things they can do, but to

take the next step, they have

to keep working on their

weaknesses.

The varsity line up for

singles includes,

Benji

Backer as one singles, An-

drew Wilks as two singles,

Deepak Vir as three singles,

and Anthony Wendel as

four singles. Meanwhile,

the doubles lineup includes

Mac Bagwell and Brad Pen-

nings as one doubles, Bren-

nan Arnold and Tyler Grim-

mer as two doubles, and

Emil Mostrom and Alex

Gowing as three doubles.

A vital element of prac-

tice included regular weight

training, in order to im-

prove their physical con-

ditioning which eventually

really showed on the court.

They also practiced a lot

of techniques and strate-

gies for conquering tough

matches.

“In practice, we drill a

lot,” said Tyler Grimmer,

sophomore. “The using the

changes and adjustments

we made to our serves, vol-

leys, or returns, we play

matches to use what we

learned in those drills.”

When asked why ten-

nis is a fun sport to be in,

Mac Bagwell, junior, re-

sponded by saying, “Tennis

is a very accessible game.

Players can come from all

different social circles and

can start playing at any

skill level. Sometimes team

sports can seem very aloof

to new players. Tennis isn’t

like that. Even those of us

who have been playing for

a long time enjoy playing

alongside those who are

picking up the game for the

rst time. We like playing

tennis because everyone

has fun.”

Furthermore, most boys

on the tennis team agree

that people should come to

tennis meets because it is

one of the most engaging

sports to watch as a spec-

tator. Often, players feel

that the spectators can have

a real impact on the out-

come, providing the energy

needed to pull out a tough

match.

Looking towards the

state tournament in Madi-

son this year, Burt com-

ments, “We have many

places on the team that I feel

if we keep on improving,

we can make some waves

during the sectional tourna-

ment. I have no doubt, we

will have players compet-

ing for a state berth.”

Grimmer agrees, by op-

timistically stating, “I think

everyone de

nitely has a

great chance to compete

in state this year because

we have worked through

so many obstacles together

which have made us better

tennis players.”

“I think everyone de

nitely has a great chance to

compete in state this year

because we have worked

through so many obstacles

together which have made

us better tennis players.”

Number Two Doubles players Tyler Grimmer (left) and Brennan Arnold (right)

celebrate a

rst place

nish at the Terror Invite on April 3rd. The boy’s tennis

team placed

fth at the FVA conference tournament this year with a 4-4 record.

Photo Courtesy of Sara Arnold

Austin Nelson, far right, poses with fellow Virginia

Managers and ESPN Game day Analyst Jay Wil-

liams. Nelson enjoys the atmosphere of Virginia

Basketball.

Photo courtesy of Austin Nelson

Floodstrand

, alumni re

ection on current and future endeavors

“On your worst

day, anybody

can beat you,

and on your best

day, you can

beat anybody.”

- Mr. Scott

Burt

Floodstrand believes “For

incoming freshmen partici-

pating in college athletics I

think my advice would be to

brace yourself and get ready

for a crazy ride. Stay posi-

tive and work as hard as you

can and do whatever any of

your teammates or coaches

ask you to do, and remember

if and when times get hard,

realize that there aren’t very

many people that make it to

this point in sports so you

need to enjoy it and not take

it for granted.”

“Beating UNC (Universi-

ty of North Carolina) when

College Gameday was there

this past February.”

For Floodstrand, her fa-

vorite memory has to be

her

rst ever plane ride

en route to Florida. “This

year I loved going down to

Florida for spring break the

weather was gorgeous and

despite not winning any of

the games down there we

got to see some really great

competition.”